April Print Buyer Pulse: Confidence Plummets

Thursday, April 05, 2001

Press release from the issuing company

Overall Confidence of Buyers Drops 7%, Number Predicting a Decrease in Spending Doubles
Lexington, KY USA - 4/5/01 - WhatTheyThink.com has released it's monthly Print Buyer Pulse for April.
Overall, confidence dropped to a low with only 32% of print buyers saying they expect to spend more in the coming six months. 15% said they would spend less and a majority (53%) said their spending would remain the same. After holding steady in March, buyers predicting an increase in spending dropped 7%. Print buyers predicting a decrease in spending jumped from 8% to 15%.
BY INDUSTRY SEGMENT
In March, 56% of ad agencies predicted a spending increase in the coming six months. In April, only 39% said they would spend more. Ad agencies have typically been the most bullish - these numbers show a very significant swing.
BY AMOUNT SPENT
Large buyers of print services clearly weighed down the confidence level. Buyers describing their spending on print as "over $50,000" annually had a confidence decrease of 7% to 39%. Large buyers (spending over $500,000) had the most change with only 33% predicting an increase in spending. Last month, nearly half (45%) of these buyers said they would spend more in the coming six months. Smaller buyers of print services (spending under $25,000) had the least change in March with 24% saying they would spend more - down from 26% in March.